Take this skin quiz to find the best ingredients for your skin and build your skin care routine.
Take The Skin Quiz
Shea butter is a fat obtained from the nuts of the African shea tree, which is indigenous to Africa. It is edible, and is used for cooking in some African countries. However, it has a range of skincare uses, due to which it’s used commonly in cosmetics and skincare products. To find out if shea butter would complement your skincare routine, take our specially designed skin quiz!
Shea butter can be used for a variety of skin-related issues. It can be used to add moisture to the skin, to balance oil levels, to reduce inflammation, provide antioxidants, to repair and rejuvenate skin, and to clear acne. However, that’s not all – not by far! Shea butter can also help reduce fine lines and wrinkles, diminish scars, help with cell regeneration, provide sun protection, reduce chapping, treat skin conditions such as eczema, and treat burns, insect bites and other wounds.
Shea butter is a wonderful, gentle ingredient that doesn’t have many side effects and has been used by millions of people for many generations. However, in some people usage on the face can lead to acne breakouts due to the fat content. In fact, if you’re sensitive to it, even using a product with a small percentage of shea butter in it may lead to a breakout.
Oily skin occurs when the sebaceous glands in the pores are producing more oil, or sebum, than necessary. Sebum is natural in all skin as it keeps the skin moist and healthy. Over production of sebum can be caused by hormones, genetics or could even be a result of dry skin over-compensating by producing extra oil, in order to retain some measure of moisture.
Oily skin can also be caused by using the wrong products for your skin type. For example, if you are using overly drying soaps and astringents for your skin type, your skin may respond by over producing oil to compensate, as mentioned above. This can create an unfortunate cycle of using harsh soaps to eliminate oils, but instead exacerbating the problem.
On the other hand, overly oily makeup and products can also cause oily skin.
Ingredients that help exfoliate dead skin cells to keep pores unclogged and increase new skin cell production, such as Vitamin A/Retinol, glycolic acid, and salicylic acid, are good for treating acne as well. Benzoyl peroxide is a topical agent for fighting bacteria and unclogging pores. It is one of the longest-used medications to keep oily pores clean and healthy. Jojoba oil is also good for fighting bacteria trapped in oily skin and maintaining a moisture barrier to prevent over-production of sebum.
Shea butter may be effective for oily skin, but there are many other factors that may affect whether this ingredient would work on your skin or if there are better ingredients that may work for you. Take this skin quiz to find the best ingredients for your skin and build your skincare routine.
Next: Does vitamin A work on oily skin ?